STUDENTS are turning away from tertiary education courses in Victoria, with applications to study at TAFE plummeting by almost 10 per cent.
International year 12 student applications have slumped by 6 per cent this year, which will alarm universities because they depend on international student fees to subsidise domestic places.
Mature-age applications and graduate-entry teaching applications also plunged by 8.7 per cent.
Despite the fall in applications, the overall number of students who received tertiary offers - 75,781- was up 2.5 per cent from last year, according to the Victorian Tertiary Admission Centre.
Of those who applied to study at university, 82 per cent received an offer.
Poor and disadvantaged students were clear winners, with university offers to students from low socio-economic backgrounds increasing by 8 per cent, following the higher participation targets set by the federal government after the 2008 Bradley review of higher education.
The government has set a national target of 20 per cent of students at university coming from low socio-economic backgrounds by 2020.
It is also pushing for the overall number of students attending university to rise. University enrolment caps have been increased in recent years, and will be scrapped next year.
The government wants 40 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds to hold a bachelor degree by 2025, up from the current 29 per cent.
While university applications fell by 1.3 per cent in Victoria, TAFE and private tertiary colleges were most severely hit, receiving 8.7 per cent and 7 per cent fewer applications respectively.
University of Melbourne associate professor Leesa Wheelahan said when the economy was doing well there was less demand for tertiary education because it was easier to get a job.
She also said universities were poaching students because of the drop in international students and the new demand-led higher education system, which would lead to the cap on university enrolments being lifted next year.
''Universities are trying to get a bigger share of enrolments and cannibalising students who would normally apply to TAFE,'' she said.
Professor Wheelahan said the former state government's controversial shake-up of vocational education could also have cut TAFE applications, with fees for higher qualifications almost tripling and HECS-style loans introduced.
''I don't think the Victorian government has done a particularly good job of explaining income-contingent loans,'' she said.
The University of Melbourne this year offered 6000 new undergraduate places, more than ever and an 8 per cent increase on 2010. The number of offers it made to students from low socio-economic backgrounds jumped from 325 to 606, while offers to rural students increased from 659 to 754.
Acting vice-chancellor Professor Susan Elliott said the increase in overall offers, especially for disadvantaged students, was partly a response to the federal government's call for better university access for all students but also an essential part of the university's Melbourne Model. Under the model, students study a broad undergraduate degree and specialise at postgraduate level.
But when asked whether the government's growth agenda was sustainable, University of Melbourne senior vice-principal Ian Marshman said it was a serious issue for research-intensive universities such as Melbourne.
''In one sense the whole of the system has been living off the benefits of international student enrolments,'' he said. ''If there is some real hiccup in that area, it's going to make quite a big difference.''
Mr Marshman said his university received an average $16,000 for a Commonwealth-supported domestic student place and about $28,000 in fees from an international student, when the average cost of educating a student was more than $20,000, ''so there is actually a direct cross-subsidy from fee-paying students''.
''It's providing disincentives to institutions to enrol significant numbers of additional domestic students because they are losing money,'' he said.
The standard cutoff score to get into arts at the University of Melbourne was 88, down from 89 last year, and 85.05 for science, down from 89.05
by Jewel Topsfield
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Monday, 17 January 2011
Friday, 7 January 2011
Australian Universities hit hard by slump in foreign students
A slump in the number of international students coming to Australia is causing major problems for universities reliant on full-fee-paying students.
The latest Federal Government figures show a 1.4 per cent decline in enrolments since this time last year for a sector that has grown almost 11 per cent a year for the past eight years.
International students make up about a quarter of all university enrolments in Australia, so any reduction in intake has a serious impact on the bottom line.
Monash University is Australia's largest university and has more international students than any other.
Vice-chancellor Professor Ed Byrne says enrolments in English language courses at Monash College are down 30 per cent.
With half of those students typically migrating to full-fee-paying university places, that is a substantial loss of income.
"For next year, we're about $40 million on the income side away from where we'd hoped to be," he said.
Monash has just approved 359 redundancies to improve its budget forecast for next year.
Jennie Lang is pro-vice-chancellor international at the University of New South Wales. She says the decline in student numbers is worrying.
"In some instances, the downturn will initially be small and will be handled on the margins. In other universities it will be catastrophic," she said.
China is Australia's biggest market for international students, with India a close second.
Government data shows Indian student enrolments are down 17 per cent on this time last year.
The high Australian dollar has increased competition from the US and UK, but Ms Lang says recent changes to immigration rules are also to blame.
"There's been really significant problems about the messages we used in the election campaign to do with migration and whether or not Australia wants to grow its population," she said.
"That's been interpreted in our major source countries in Asia as Australia now sort of moving away from having international students and migrants."
'Perceived racism'
Ms Lang says there is also a perception that Australia is not as welcoming as it could be to international students.
"We've been picking that up in a number of countries that we've been visiting this year," she said.
Spokesman for the Federation of Indian Students of Australia, Gautam Gupta, agrees with the assessment.
"I think everything plays a role. High Australian dollar obviously contributes, as for migration laws again, definitely a reason," he said.
"The biggest problem is the lack of confidence in the Australian Government and the lack of ability to stem the increasing violence."
Professor Byrne agrees perceived racism against Indian students has had an impact.
"We have a really good idea of this because of interviews with students and with our many agents throughout Asia," he said.
"So in South Asia, initially there were cultural safety factors as perceived in India. Now they've been addressed very vigorously by the Federal Government and by the university sector.
"I think cultural safety and a mutual understanding is being built up. It will take a few years to completely get over that hiccup but we'll get there.
"The Indian market was also very migration-focused and the new migration criteria I think have affected that market also."
But Professor Byrne is hopeful the downturn is not indicative of a long-term trend and that enrolment numbers from all overseas markets will have improved by 2013.
"I don't think there is going to be a decline in the long run," he said.
"Remember that the number of people who live in families that can afford university education privately in Asia is predicted to grow from something like 300 million today to over 1.4 billion in 10 years' time.
"The current international student market from Asia, especially China, is growing at more than 30 per cent a year and I think that's predicted to continue into the future.
"So this market is going to grow internationally for many, many years."
Source: ABC news by Anna Hipsley
The latest Federal Government figures show a 1.4 per cent decline in enrolments since this time last year for a sector that has grown almost 11 per cent a year for the past eight years.
International students make up about a quarter of all university enrolments in Australia, so any reduction in intake has a serious impact on the bottom line.
Monash University is Australia's largest university and has more international students than any other.
Vice-chancellor Professor Ed Byrne says enrolments in English language courses at Monash College are down 30 per cent.
With half of those students typically migrating to full-fee-paying university places, that is a substantial loss of income.
"For next year, we're about $40 million on the income side away from where we'd hoped to be," he said.
Monash has just approved 359 redundancies to improve its budget forecast for next year.
Jennie Lang is pro-vice-chancellor international at the University of New South Wales. She says the decline in student numbers is worrying.
"In some instances, the downturn will initially be small and will be handled on the margins. In other universities it will be catastrophic," she said.
China is Australia's biggest market for international students, with India a close second.
Government data shows Indian student enrolments are down 17 per cent on this time last year.
The high Australian dollar has increased competition from the US and UK, but Ms Lang says recent changes to immigration rules are also to blame.
"There's been really significant problems about the messages we used in the election campaign to do with migration and whether or not Australia wants to grow its population," she said.
"That's been interpreted in our major source countries in Asia as Australia now sort of moving away from having international students and migrants."
'Perceived racism'
Ms Lang says there is also a perception that Australia is not as welcoming as it could be to international students.
"We've been picking that up in a number of countries that we've been visiting this year," she said.
Spokesman for the Federation of Indian Students of Australia, Gautam Gupta, agrees with the assessment.
"I think everything plays a role. High Australian dollar obviously contributes, as for migration laws again, definitely a reason," he said.
"The biggest problem is the lack of confidence in the Australian Government and the lack of ability to stem the increasing violence."
Professor Byrne agrees perceived racism against Indian students has had an impact.
"We have a really good idea of this because of interviews with students and with our many agents throughout Asia," he said.
"So in South Asia, initially there were cultural safety factors as perceived in India. Now they've been addressed very vigorously by the Federal Government and by the university sector.
"I think cultural safety and a mutual understanding is being built up. It will take a few years to completely get over that hiccup but we'll get there.
"The Indian market was also very migration-focused and the new migration criteria I think have affected that market also."
But Professor Byrne is hopeful the downturn is not indicative of a long-term trend and that enrolment numbers from all overseas markets will have improved by 2013.
"I don't think there is going to be a decline in the long run," he said.
"Remember that the number of people who live in families that can afford university education privately in Asia is predicted to grow from something like 300 million today to over 1.4 billion in 10 years' time.
"The current international student market from Asia, especially China, is growing at more than 30 per cent a year and I think that's predicted to continue into the future.
"So this market is going to grow internationally for many, many years."
Source: ABC news by Anna Hipsley
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Foreign student numbers continue to dive
NEW international student commencements continue to fall, dropping 9.5 per cent, or more than 32,000 students, as at the end of October.
According to government agency Australian Education International, total enrolments in Australia are down 1.4 per cent at 599,795 students.
The drop in commencements has worsened marginally from a 9.3 per fall as at end-September, but the fall in total enrolments has accelerated from a drop of 0.9 per cent.
The figures come as the government continues to be pressured by the international education sector to ease tighter visa restrictions on students that it fears are discouraging applications.
As previously reported in The Australian, research by the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy has highlighted that students seeking an Australian visa have to have substantially more money behind them to qualify compared with the US, Canada and Britain.
In a statement today the Australian Technology Network of universities said the visa system was "threatening to the derail'' the industry.
"We have a ridiculous situation whereby the level of proof required by students from our key markets of China and India are substantially more onerous than for that required by students from Singapore and Malaysia,'' Ross Milbourne, ATN chairman and vice chancellor of University of Technology, Sydney, said.
International students seeking a local visa need to prove they have sufficient funds to cover tuition fees and living costs for the duration of their stay, which for a three-year degree would amount to at least $108,000, the Curtin Institute said. In comparison, it is about $40,500 in the US and $23,000-$25,000 in Canada, Britain and New Zealand.
As of October, enrolments in higher education remain 8.4 per cent up on a year ago, while commencement growth has slowed to 1.9 per cent. But the sector is braced for a substantial drop in numbers next year, especially in the second semester with some universities budgeting for falls of as much as 25 per cent.
The Curtin Institute has forecast that falling international student numbers in higher education could cost the economy as many as 19,000 jobs by 2012.
TAFEs and their agents are warning of between 30 per cent and 40 per cent decline in commencements next year, TAFE Directors Australia said yesterday.
Commencements in vocational education and training are down 8.2 per cent as of October. Enrolments are up just 0.4 per cent.
The English language college sector, which feeds both higher education and VET, remains the worst hit with enrolments down 18 per cent and commencements down 22.3 per cent.
(Source: The Australian)
According to government agency Australian Education International, total enrolments in Australia are down 1.4 per cent at 599,795 students.
The drop in commencements has worsened marginally from a 9.3 per fall as at end-September, but the fall in total enrolments has accelerated from a drop of 0.9 per cent.
The figures come as the government continues to be pressured by the international education sector to ease tighter visa restrictions on students that it fears are discouraging applications.
As previously reported in The Australian, research by the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy has highlighted that students seeking an Australian visa have to have substantially more money behind them to qualify compared with the US, Canada and Britain.
In a statement today the Australian Technology Network of universities said the visa system was "threatening to the derail'' the industry.
"We have a ridiculous situation whereby the level of proof required by students from our key markets of China and India are substantially more onerous than for that required by students from Singapore and Malaysia,'' Ross Milbourne, ATN chairman and vice chancellor of University of Technology, Sydney, said.
International students seeking a local visa need to prove they have sufficient funds to cover tuition fees and living costs for the duration of their stay, which for a three-year degree would amount to at least $108,000, the Curtin Institute said. In comparison, it is about $40,500 in the US and $23,000-$25,000 in Canada, Britain and New Zealand.
As of October, enrolments in higher education remain 8.4 per cent up on a year ago, while commencement growth has slowed to 1.9 per cent. But the sector is braced for a substantial drop in numbers next year, especially in the second semester with some universities budgeting for falls of as much as 25 per cent.
The Curtin Institute has forecast that falling international student numbers in higher education could cost the economy as many as 19,000 jobs by 2012.
TAFEs and their agents are warning of between 30 per cent and 40 per cent decline in commencements next year, TAFE Directors Australia said yesterday.
Commencements in vocational education and training are down 8.2 per cent as of October. Enrolments are up just 0.4 per cent.
The English language college sector, which feeds both higher education and VET, remains the worst hit with enrolments down 18 per cent and commencements down 22.3 per cent.
(Source: The Australian)
Monday, 25 October 2010
Top unis warn on loss of quality
THE academic integrity and international competitiveness of Australia's universities faces being seriously compromised.
This would occur if the Gillard government goes ahead with plan to approve thousands of additional student places without a corresponding boost to the sector's funding.
According to the coalition of the country's eight elite universities, known as the Group of Eight, the federal government's proposal to provide an additional 110,000 undergraduate student places by 2020, and 235,000 by 2030, is putting quantity over quality and will result in much higher fees or greatly diminished academic standards.
The Group of Eight has also expressed concerns that Australian universities are being driven into a one-size-fits-all regime, which lowers the standards of the best and props up the underperformers.
The group yesterday called on the Gillard government to either commit to billions of dollars to fund the proposed boost in university places, or allow tertiary institutions to make up the difference with sharply higher fees.
Without the funding, the Group of Eight says, the quality of tertiary education provided by Australian universities compared with other advanced countries will slide.
The warning follows a series of studies commissioned by the group, the reports of which have been obtained by The Australian.
Mike Gallagher, executive director of the Group of Eight, said the country's universities would struggle to maintain quality, while absorbing an additional 110,000 students by 2020 and 235,000 students by 2030.
From 2012, the government will remove the limit on the number of publicly funded undergraduate places, effectively undertaking to fund as many students as universities enrol.
But the federal government estimates that only 50,000 additional students by 2013 and 217,000 additional graduates by 2025 fall short of Group of Eight -- and subsequent Treasury -- projections.
Last year the government budgeted $491 million over four years, with a further $437m to target students from disadvantaged backgrounds. But the mid-year forward estimates increased the amount by $800m, suggesting the initial government predictions were wildly inadequate.
The Group of Eight estimates the additional places will cost an extra $3.6 billion a year (in 2008 dollars) by 2030. To maintain current staff-to-student ratios, among the highest in the world at over 20:1, will cost $1bn, while reducing them to 16:1 would cost further $7.5bn.
"We think the cost of growth needs to be shared. Government, general taxpayers and students will all have to pay more."
The Group of Eight says universities should be freed up to charge what they can, up to a 50 per cent increase on current fees.
"There are a whole lot of students who could afford to pay more but don't because the government won't let them," Mr Gallagher said.
He said the British government has recently proposed a sharp increase in fees. "Fee deregulation is unpalatable to government, but the issue is not going to go away," Mr Gallagher said. "The UK has just addressed it. It just takes a bit of leadership to say what is fair for the country and what's affordable for the country."
Australia is already the third-highest in OECD nations in how much individuals contribute to tertiary education -- behind only the US and Korea.
Marcia Devlin, a professor of higher education at Deakin University, said it was disappointing that students should foot the bill.
She said there were numerous other sources of potential funding, including industry, professional associations, alumni and philanthropy.
A spokesman for Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans said the government was committed to a review of cluster funding rates -- or what the government pays universities for enrolling students in different disciplines -- "so that funding for teaching and learning remains internationally competitive".
The Go8 is also concerned that all universities are being driven into a one-size-fits-all regime, which lowers the standards of the best and props up the under-performers. Currently, there are three institutions in the top 100 of the Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings -- Australian National University, Melbourne and Sydney.
Other institutions represented by the Go8 are the universities of NSW, Queensland, Western Australia, Adelaide and Monash. Every member of the Gillard cabinet gained their first degree at a Go8 university.
The aggressive stance on funding by the Go8 is at odds with the traditional polite lobbying of vice-chancellors and could reflect the fine balance of power now in government.
Peter Quiddington, a adjunct lecturer from the University of New England, who is about to publish a book on the failed lobbying efforts of vice-chancellors, applauded the Go8's more assertive approach.
"Vice-chancellors argue that if they don't ruffle feathers, there will be more in the future. And the government of the day has always rolled them. They are being ripped off blind."
A spokesman for senator Brett Mason, who has carriage of higher education for the opposition, said: "The Go8's paper raises many issues and ideas that are very important in developing . . . policy."
Source: The Australian.com.au
This would occur if the Gillard government goes ahead with plan to approve thousands of additional student places without a corresponding boost to the sector's funding.
According to the coalition of the country's eight elite universities, known as the Group of Eight, the federal government's proposal to provide an additional 110,000 undergraduate student places by 2020, and 235,000 by 2030, is putting quantity over quality and will result in much higher fees or greatly diminished academic standards.
The Group of Eight has also expressed concerns that Australian universities are being driven into a one-size-fits-all regime, which lowers the standards of the best and props up the underperformers.
The group yesterday called on the Gillard government to either commit to billions of dollars to fund the proposed boost in university places, or allow tertiary institutions to make up the difference with sharply higher fees.
Without the funding, the Group of Eight says, the quality of tertiary education provided by Australian universities compared with other advanced countries will slide.
The warning follows a series of studies commissioned by the group, the reports of which have been obtained by The Australian.
Mike Gallagher, executive director of the Group of Eight, said the country's universities would struggle to maintain quality, while absorbing an additional 110,000 students by 2020 and 235,000 students by 2030.
From 2012, the government will remove the limit on the number of publicly funded undergraduate places, effectively undertaking to fund as many students as universities enrol.
But the federal government estimates that only 50,000 additional students by 2013 and 217,000 additional graduates by 2025 fall short of Group of Eight -- and subsequent Treasury -- projections.
Last year the government budgeted $491 million over four years, with a further $437m to target students from disadvantaged backgrounds. But the mid-year forward estimates increased the amount by $800m, suggesting the initial government predictions were wildly inadequate.
The Group of Eight estimates the additional places will cost an extra $3.6 billion a year (in 2008 dollars) by 2030. To maintain current staff-to-student ratios, among the highest in the world at over 20:1, will cost $1bn, while reducing them to 16:1 would cost further $7.5bn.
"We think the cost of growth needs to be shared. Government, general taxpayers and students will all have to pay more."
The Group of Eight says universities should be freed up to charge what they can, up to a 50 per cent increase on current fees.
"There are a whole lot of students who could afford to pay more but don't because the government won't let them," Mr Gallagher said.
He said the British government has recently proposed a sharp increase in fees. "Fee deregulation is unpalatable to government, but the issue is not going to go away," Mr Gallagher said. "The UK has just addressed it. It just takes a bit of leadership to say what is fair for the country and what's affordable for the country."
Australia is already the third-highest in OECD nations in how much individuals contribute to tertiary education -- behind only the US and Korea.
Marcia Devlin, a professor of higher education at Deakin University, said it was disappointing that students should foot the bill.
She said there were numerous other sources of potential funding, including industry, professional associations, alumni and philanthropy.
A spokesman for Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans said the government was committed to a review of cluster funding rates -- or what the government pays universities for enrolling students in different disciplines -- "so that funding for teaching and learning remains internationally competitive".
The Go8 is also concerned that all universities are being driven into a one-size-fits-all regime, which lowers the standards of the best and props up the under-performers. Currently, there are three institutions in the top 100 of the Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings -- Australian National University, Melbourne and Sydney.
Other institutions represented by the Go8 are the universities of NSW, Queensland, Western Australia, Adelaide and Monash. Every member of the Gillard cabinet gained their first degree at a Go8 university.
The aggressive stance on funding by the Go8 is at odds with the traditional polite lobbying of vice-chancellors and could reflect the fine balance of power now in government.
Peter Quiddington, a adjunct lecturer from the University of New England, who is about to publish a book on the failed lobbying efforts of vice-chancellors, applauded the Go8's more assertive approach.
"Vice-chancellors argue that if they don't ruffle feathers, there will be more in the future. And the government of the day has always rolled them. They are being ripped off blind."
A spokesman for senator Brett Mason, who has carriage of higher education for the opposition, said: "The Go8's paper raises many issues and ideas that are very important in developing . . . policy."
Source: The Australian.com.au
Saturday, 16 October 2010
The Fall of International Education
I came across this news from the age and think that we are in the cross-road of international education in Australia. Subject matter is Indian students in Australia!!
Indian student enrolments at Australian universities are set to plunge by at least 80 per cent in the 2011 academic year, a leading academic says.
Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis warns that higher education across the country, including Victoria where it is the state's biggest export earner, is taking a massive hit after reports of attacks against students from the sub-continent.
"According to our best sources ... the fall in applications from India into Australian tertiary education ... are predicting at around 80 per cent, some institutions are reporting up to 90," Professor Davis told reporters in Melbourne.
"We did have a system where everything was growing. It's no longer true, so we are going to have to go back and look again."
Monash University is expected to cut staff numbers by more than 300 in 2011 due to drastically reduced international student revenues, the National Tertiary Education Union says.
But Melbourne University, with a more diverse mix of foreign students, is "better prepared" to weather the storm, a university spokesman said.
Prof Davis said Australia was the only country in the world where international student numbers were dropping.
"Every other country is seeing an increase in international students," he said.
"We are the only country in the world that is having this sharp fall, which tells you that whatever the factors are that are driving it, they're about what we do in Australia."
If the international student market continues to soften, universities will need to increase pressure of the federal government for more investment, Prof Davis said.
He conceded that the consequences of lost income would be felt by Australian students but would not confirm whether fees would rise.
"We would all prefer to see public investment (rather) than further increases in student fees, but it may be that, in the mix of things that get talked about, student fees is part of them," he said.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said a variety of factors, including the high Australian dollar, some immigration changes and fierce competition in the region had put pressure on enrolments, but the government would continue to promote Australia as a desirable country to study in.
"We do want to see international students come and study here, so we'll keep working with the Victorian government, with individual universities on international education, but there are a range of factors putting pressure on at this time."
Prof Davis said Australia had never been the first destination of choice for Indian students, but actual or perceived violent attacks had not helped the cause.
"There's no doubt that the climate in India was deeply critical of the way Australians had handled it, and there was also no doubt it was going to affect people's willingness to come here," he said.
"We were already in a market where we weren't necessarily an attractive destination - this ensured that we were not an attractive destination.
"It takes a long time to rebuild a reputation ... almost overnight we've shown that.
"You only do it through patient diplomacy, you do it through endless delegations, you do it through scholarships, and you have to work very hard with the community at home to make it clear that there are ... really disturbing consequences."
(Source: http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/indian-student-numbers-to-drop-80-20101014-16l8j.html)
Indian student enrolments at Australian universities are set to plunge by at least 80 per cent in the 2011 academic year, a leading academic says.
Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis warns that higher education across the country, including Victoria where it is the state's biggest export earner, is taking a massive hit after reports of attacks against students from the sub-continent.
"According to our best sources ... the fall in applications from India into Australian tertiary education ... are predicting at around 80 per cent, some institutions are reporting up to 90," Professor Davis told reporters in Melbourne.
"We did have a system where everything was growing. It's no longer true, so we are going to have to go back and look again."
Monash University is expected to cut staff numbers by more than 300 in 2011 due to drastically reduced international student revenues, the National Tertiary Education Union says.
But Melbourne University, with a more diverse mix of foreign students, is "better prepared" to weather the storm, a university spokesman said.
Prof Davis said Australia was the only country in the world where international student numbers were dropping.
"Every other country is seeing an increase in international students," he said.
"We are the only country in the world that is having this sharp fall, which tells you that whatever the factors are that are driving it, they're about what we do in Australia."
If the international student market continues to soften, universities will need to increase pressure of the federal government for more investment, Prof Davis said.
He conceded that the consequences of lost income would be felt by Australian students but would not confirm whether fees would rise.
"We would all prefer to see public investment (rather) than further increases in student fees, but it may be that, in the mix of things that get talked about, student fees is part of them," he said.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said a variety of factors, including the high Australian dollar, some immigration changes and fierce competition in the region had put pressure on enrolments, but the government would continue to promote Australia as a desirable country to study in.
"We do want to see international students come and study here, so we'll keep working with the Victorian government, with individual universities on international education, but there are a range of factors putting pressure on at this time."
Prof Davis said Australia had never been the first destination of choice for Indian students, but actual or perceived violent attacks had not helped the cause.
"There's no doubt that the climate in India was deeply critical of the way Australians had handled it, and there was also no doubt it was going to affect people's willingness to come here," he said.
"We were already in a market where we weren't necessarily an attractive destination - this ensured that we were not an attractive destination.
"It takes a long time to rebuild a reputation ... almost overnight we've shown that.
"You only do it through patient diplomacy, you do it through endless delegations, you do it through scholarships, and you have to work very hard with the community at home to make it clear that there are ... really disturbing consequences."
(Source: http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/indian-student-numbers-to-drop-80-20101014-16l8j.html)
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Transnational Education Experiences
In the last 8 days, I spent my week working in Shanghai and I realised how much I enjoy working with students from Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade (SIFT). The class I taught was under the umbrella of RMIT Bachelor of Business (International Business) program. Thus, I expected the students to be worldly...or at least..... internationally in their views to the business and education.
I wasn't wrong when I went to teach them on the first day because most of them showed a high level of enthusiasm and understanding of key global issues. This is totally different from what I read from research on Chinese students (or myth about Chinese students). Some, not all, of them were quiet and passive in the first 60 minutes. Later on, when we broke the ice, I started to see the sparkling in their eyes when we started to talk about issues such as offshoring, outsourcing, Wal-MART in China, how Justin Bieber becomes global brand etc etc. I must admit the very first class at SIFT for me went very well and the very first lesson I learnt from this class is student-centered approach can become a reality when teachers shift the focus from the 'context of knowledge' in the classroom to the 'context of learning' among students.
I wasn't wrong when I went to teach them on the first day because most of them showed a high level of enthusiasm and understanding of key global issues. This is totally different from what I read from research on Chinese students (or myth about Chinese students). Some, not all, of them were quiet and passive in the first 60 minutes. Later on, when we broke the ice, I started to see the sparkling in their eyes when we started to talk about issues such as offshoring, outsourcing, Wal-MART in China, how Justin Bieber becomes global brand etc etc. I must admit the very first class at SIFT for me went very well and the very first lesson I learnt from this class is student-centered approach can become a reality when teachers shift the focus from the 'context of knowledge' in the classroom to the 'context of learning' among students.
Saturday, 18 September 2010
Turning off the tap
Very interesting article from the age:
Over the past 18 months a number of factors have led to a fall in the number of overseas students wanting to study in Australia. And universities, which rely on international student fees after years of government underfunding, are panicking.
Education observers around the world are now questioning whether Australia's business model for international education was such a good one after all.
Commentators such as Horst Albert Glaser, emeritus professor at Germany's University of Duisburg-Essen, are also questioning the morality of taking fees from foreign students from developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region to prop up Australian universities.
But in Australia such issues do not take centre stage. What's brewing here is deep frustration among universities that recent government policy changes are fuelling the drop-off in foreign students.
In an attempt to stamp out visa rorting, and weaken the link between immigration and education, the federal government last year introduced more stringent rules governing student visas, and tightened immigration regulations.
That has caused a slowdown in the rate of foreign students starting courses. As the problem worsens there is growing disquiet in Victoria's universities that the honey pot is drying up.
The issue is a political hot potato because universities rely on foreign student fees for an average of 16 per cent of their total funding, and use much of that revenue to cross-subsidise domestic students.
As Stephen King, dean of the business and economics faculty at Monash, suggested on the website Core Economics recently: ''If you are an undergraduate HECS student and you are sitting next to a foreign fee-paying student, turn to them and say 'thank you'. After all, they are paying for your education.''
He warns: ''If the university sector ends up in financial crisis it is taxpayers who will be bailing them out.''
Melbourne University's higher education expert, Simon Marginson, argues the downturn is primarily due to immigration policy changes, not a fall in demand, though that is also occurring.
''This export industry cannot be expected to grow forever,'' he says, ''and the long-term quality and reputation of Australian international education, including its commercial capacity, depends on the resources we put into it.''
Melbourne University education economist Ross Williams likens the government's strangling of the supply of foreign students to a ''tap being turned off a little''.
He predicts the damage to universities will reverberate through the economy, with fewer foreign students affecting property prices (since foreign students form a large part of the rental market) and dampening demand for ancillary services such as cafes around universities.
Universities heavily reliant on international students are on shaky ground. Central Queensland University is the most vulnerable as it relies on foreign students for 44 per cent of total revenue.
Victorian institutions at risk are Ballarat University (31 per cent), RMIT University (26 per cent) and Swinburne University of Technology (20 per cent). The picture is not much rosier for larger universities such as Monash University (18 per cent), Melbourne University (16 per cent) and La Trobe University (13 per cent).
Monash University is bracing for a 5 per cent fall in foreign student enrolments next year and a 10 per cent drop the year after.
Vice-chancellor Ed Byrne says university budgets are feeling the squeeze. ''There's been a systematic underfunding of domestic students, so no Australian university gets enough money from government or fees to pay our costs,'' he says. ''Our costs are dependent on the international markets, so not only do international students bring vast economic earnings to the state, not only do they contribute culturally enormously to our campuses, they also are key factors in university budgets in this country.
''For a state like Victoria, I think this is potentially the most serious economic thing on the horizon.'' International education is Victoria's top export earner, bringing in $5.8 billion last year.
At Swinburne University, foreign student numbers are down 10 per cent on last year. Forecasts for next year suggest that will shrink to about 80 per cent of 2009 levels. Vice-chancellor Ian Young believes the government must encourage more international students to come to Australia.
''The real danger in Australia is sending a message out into the market that we're really not interested in having international students come to Australia. So the market is basically voting with their feet and saying if [Australia] doesn't want us, there are other places we can go,'' he says.
Foreign student numbers are reasonably steady at La Trobe University says international director Liz Stinson, but the university is planning for a drop.
''I personally think we have been let down. We have done our darndest to both deliver high-quality education and to obey the law … We've all been working away at this for 10 years and I think there is a collective sense in the industry that we have been let down by government,'' she says.
In a sign of growing alarm, the Group of Eight leading universities has warned that a crippling downturn in foreign student numbers would imperil universities.
They have called on politicians to take urgent action to pull the international education industry from the brink of potential disaster. They want changes to student visa arrangements to ensure legitimate students are not discouraged from applying to Australia.
And they argue that tightening visas to deal with problems in the training sector, particularly so-called dodgy colleges, has resulted in ''collateral damage'' to universities.
John Phillimore from the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy at Curtin University says a slump in foreign student numbers would lead to massive job losses, increased class sizes and fewer courses.
Any suggestion that universities are just crying wolf was put to rest in a recent report by Professor Phillimore and fellow Curtin University colleague Paul Koshy, which warns of alarming consequences if the government does not reconsider its policies. In a description of the worst-case scenario - ''the perfect storm'' - they warn that by 2015 foreign student enrolments in higher education could plunge from about 214,000 in 2010 to about 148,000 in 2015, resulting in 36,182 fewer jobs and a collapse of $7 billion in university revenues.
Professor Phillimore told The Age the perfect storm scenario was a plausible outcome.
In the past 18 months, a cocktail of factors have conspired to put international education under severe pressure. They include a stronger Australian dollar, the impact of the global financial crisis, and fierce competition from countries such as the US.
Australia's reputation as a study destination has also taken a hammering, with attacks on foreign students, the collapse of private colleges, the immigration debate during the election campaign and tougher student visa rules.
''The impact of most of these factors has yet to be fully felt,'' the Curtin report warns. However, there are already signs of flattening demand. Government data shows foreign student enrolments in higher education are down 6.3 per cent for the year to June 2010.
Enrolments in English language courses are hardest hit, falling more than 20 per cent. Reports from student recruitment agents suggest enrolments could fall by up to 40 per cent. This is alarming for universities as English language courses are a pathway to higher education in subsequent years. Similarly, immigration data shows visas granted to students applying from overseas fell by a staggering 25 per cent in 2009-10.
David Buckingham, principal adviser to the office of the vice- chancellor at Monash University, is worried.
''The administrative conditions imposed by the Australian visa system are actually far more onerous than [those that] apply with competitor countries,'' he says. ''It's treating the students and their families almost as if they are money launderers, rather than those who are actually prepared to pay a significant amount in the education of their children.''
Under current visa arrangements, the family of a Chinese student wanting to do an undergraduate course at Monash would need to show it had up to $150,000 in the bank for six months before the date of the visa application, he says.
In comparison, Britain requires students to show a bank deposit of about $40,000 held for 28 days. The US merely asks the student to show adequate funds for self-sufficiency.
No one is arguing that we need to go back to days of easy visas, he says, but ''the visa system should be geared to sort the wheat from the chaff''.
In the absence of government action, universities such as Melbourne University are doing what they can to prepare for hard times ahead.
Deputy vice-chancellor global engagement Sue Elliott says: ''[Considering] the outlook for 2011 and particularly 2012, we are concerned. We are intensifying our engagement with schools, and internationally, but we are also seeking to diversify our student source countries as well.''
RMIT deputy vice-chancellor international Stephen Connelly is also president of the International Education Association of Australia. He wants to see the establishment of a parliamentary secretary for international education.
''What's happening now is a reaction to decisions by government that have been ill informed and poorly implemented with no overarching strategy and no vision. If they got those things right there wouldn't be a problem,'' he says.
In response to questions from The Age last week, then immigration minister Chris Evans defended the government's visa changes. He said the government would work collaboratively with the sector to ''ensure these reforms strike the right balance between making the visa application process easier for genuine students, while imposing appropriate checks on those who may seek to abuse the system''.
In the Gillard government's new ministerial line-up Chris Bowen takes over as immigration minister while the education portfolio is split, into schools, skills and tertiary education. Chris Evans has the skills and tertiary education portfolio and both ministers can expect intense lobbying by universities.
In the meantime, Melbourne University's Professor Marginson, is adamant that Australia would provide a stronger university education to local and international students if the quality of teaching and research could be guaranteed through adequate government funding.
It's a view shared by educators who argue foreign students' greatest attribute is not their ability to pay fees. Says Melbourne's Sue Elliott: ''If we were not reliant on international students for income, we would still seek to have international students in our classrooms from across the world … [the true value] is those very important links that are made. Those sorts of connections are priceless.''
Those priceless connections are now at stake as questions about the morality of using developing countries to fund education in Australia loom large. Professor Marginson notes the morality issue is rarely discussed.
''A sign,'' he says, ''of how our one-sided and almost solely commercial approach to international education has emptied out the moral content of our educational relationship with the Asia-Pacific region.''
Over the past 18 months a number of factors have led to a fall in the number of overseas students wanting to study in Australia. And universities, which rely on international student fees after years of government underfunding, are panicking.
Education observers around the world are now questioning whether Australia's business model for international education was such a good one after all.
Commentators such as Horst Albert Glaser, emeritus professor at Germany's University of Duisburg-Essen, are also questioning the morality of taking fees from foreign students from developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region to prop up Australian universities.
But in Australia such issues do not take centre stage. What's brewing here is deep frustration among universities that recent government policy changes are fuelling the drop-off in foreign students.
In an attempt to stamp out visa rorting, and weaken the link between immigration and education, the federal government last year introduced more stringent rules governing student visas, and tightened immigration regulations.
That has caused a slowdown in the rate of foreign students starting courses. As the problem worsens there is growing disquiet in Victoria's universities that the honey pot is drying up.
The issue is a political hot potato because universities rely on foreign student fees for an average of 16 per cent of their total funding, and use much of that revenue to cross-subsidise domestic students.
As Stephen King, dean of the business and economics faculty at Monash, suggested on the website Core Economics recently: ''If you are an undergraduate HECS student and you are sitting next to a foreign fee-paying student, turn to them and say 'thank you'. After all, they are paying for your education.''
He warns: ''If the university sector ends up in financial crisis it is taxpayers who will be bailing them out.''
Melbourne University's higher education expert, Simon Marginson, argues the downturn is primarily due to immigration policy changes, not a fall in demand, though that is also occurring.
''This export industry cannot be expected to grow forever,'' he says, ''and the long-term quality and reputation of Australian international education, including its commercial capacity, depends on the resources we put into it.''
Melbourne University education economist Ross Williams likens the government's strangling of the supply of foreign students to a ''tap being turned off a little''.
He predicts the damage to universities will reverberate through the economy, with fewer foreign students affecting property prices (since foreign students form a large part of the rental market) and dampening demand for ancillary services such as cafes around universities.
Universities heavily reliant on international students are on shaky ground. Central Queensland University is the most vulnerable as it relies on foreign students for 44 per cent of total revenue.
Victorian institutions at risk are Ballarat University (31 per cent), RMIT University (26 per cent) and Swinburne University of Technology (20 per cent). The picture is not much rosier for larger universities such as Monash University (18 per cent), Melbourne University (16 per cent) and La Trobe University (13 per cent).
Monash University is bracing for a 5 per cent fall in foreign student enrolments next year and a 10 per cent drop the year after.
Vice-chancellor Ed Byrne says university budgets are feeling the squeeze. ''There's been a systematic underfunding of domestic students, so no Australian university gets enough money from government or fees to pay our costs,'' he says. ''Our costs are dependent on the international markets, so not only do international students bring vast economic earnings to the state, not only do they contribute culturally enormously to our campuses, they also are key factors in university budgets in this country.
''For a state like Victoria, I think this is potentially the most serious economic thing on the horizon.'' International education is Victoria's top export earner, bringing in $5.8 billion last year.
At Swinburne University, foreign student numbers are down 10 per cent on last year. Forecasts for next year suggest that will shrink to about 80 per cent of 2009 levels. Vice-chancellor Ian Young believes the government must encourage more international students to come to Australia.
''The real danger in Australia is sending a message out into the market that we're really not interested in having international students come to Australia. So the market is basically voting with their feet and saying if [Australia] doesn't want us, there are other places we can go,'' he says.
Foreign student numbers are reasonably steady at La Trobe University says international director Liz Stinson, but the university is planning for a drop.
''I personally think we have been let down. We have done our darndest to both deliver high-quality education and to obey the law … We've all been working away at this for 10 years and I think there is a collective sense in the industry that we have been let down by government,'' she says.
In a sign of growing alarm, the Group of Eight leading universities has warned that a crippling downturn in foreign student numbers would imperil universities.
They have called on politicians to take urgent action to pull the international education industry from the brink of potential disaster. They want changes to student visa arrangements to ensure legitimate students are not discouraged from applying to Australia.
And they argue that tightening visas to deal with problems in the training sector, particularly so-called dodgy colleges, has resulted in ''collateral damage'' to universities.
John Phillimore from the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy at Curtin University says a slump in foreign student numbers would lead to massive job losses, increased class sizes and fewer courses.
Any suggestion that universities are just crying wolf was put to rest in a recent report by Professor Phillimore and fellow Curtin University colleague Paul Koshy, which warns of alarming consequences if the government does not reconsider its policies. In a description of the worst-case scenario - ''the perfect storm'' - they warn that by 2015 foreign student enrolments in higher education could plunge from about 214,000 in 2010 to about 148,000 in 2015, resulting in 36,182 fewer jobs and a collapse of $7 billion in university revenues.
Professor Phillimore told The Age the perfect storm scenario was a plausible outcome.
In the past 18 months, a cocktail of factors have conspired to put international education under severe pressure. They include a stronger Australian dollar, the impact of the global financial crisis, and fierce competition from countries such as the US.
Australia's reputation as a study destination has also taken a hammering, with attacks on foreign students, the collapse of private colleges, the immigration debate during the election campaign and tougher student visa rules.
''The impact of most of these factors has yet to be fully felt,'' the Curtin report warns. However, there are already signs of flattening demand. Government data shows foreign student enrolments in higher education are down 6.3 per cent for the year to June 2010.
Enrolments in English language courses are hardest hit, falling more than 20 per cent. Reports from student recruitment agents suggest enrolments could fall by up to 40 per cent. This is alarming for universities as English language courses are a pathway to higher education in subsequent years. Similarly, immigration data shows visas granted to students applying from overseas fell by a staggering 25 per cent in 2009-10.
David Buckingham, principal adviser to the office of the vice- chancellor at Monash University, is worried.
''The administrative conditions imposed by the Australian visa system are actually far more onerous than [those that] apply with competitor countries,'' he says. ''It's treating the students and their families almost as if they are money launderers, rather than those who are actually prepared to pay a significant amount in the education of their children.''
Under current visa arrangements, the family of a Chinese student wanting to do an undergraduate course at Monash would need to show it had up to $150,000 in the bank for six months before the date of the visa application, he says.
In comparison, Britain requires students to show a bank deposit of about $40,000 held for 28 days. The US merely asks the student to show adequate funds for self-sufficiency.
No one is arguing that we need to go back to days of easy visas, he says, but ''the visa system should be geared to sort the wheat from the chaff''.
In the absence of government action, universities such as Melbourne University are doing what they can to prepare for hard times ahead.
Deputy vice-chancellor global engagement Sue Elliott says: ''[Considering] the outlook for 2011 and particularly 2012, we are concerned. We are intensifying our engagement with schools, and internationally, but we are also seeking to diversify our student source countries as well.''
RMIT deputy vice-chancellor international Stephen Connelly is also president of the International Education Association of Australia. He wants to see the establishment of a parliamentary secretary for international education.
''What's happening now is a reaction to decisions by government that have been ill informed and poorly implemented with no overarching strategy and no vision. If they got those things right there wouldn't be a problem,'' he says.
In response to questions from The Age last week, then immigration minister Chris Evans defended the government's visa changes. He said the government would work collaboratively with the sector to ''ensure these reforms strike the right balance between making the visa application process easier for genuine students, while imposing appropriate checks on those who may seek to abuse the system''.
In the Gillard government's new ministerial line-up Chris Bowen takes over as immigration minister while the education portfolio is split, into schools, skills and tertiary education. Chris Evans has the skills and tertiary education portfolio and both ministers can expect intense lobbying by universities.
In the meantime, Melbourne University's Professor Marginson, is adamant that Australia would provide a stronger university education to local and international students if the quality of teaching and research could be guaranteed through adequate government funding.
It's a view shared by educators who argue foreign students' greatest attribute is not their ability to pay fees. Says Melbourne's Sue Elliott: ''If we were not reliant on international students for income, we would still seek to have international students in our classrooms from across the world … [the true value] is those very important links that are made. Those sorts of connections are priceless.''
Those priceless connections are now at stake as questions about the morality of using developing countries to fund education in Australia loom large. Professor Marginson notes the morality issue is rarely discussed.
''A sign,'' he says, ''of how our one-sided and almost solely commercial approach to international education has emptied out the moral content of our educational relationship with the Asia-Pacific region.''
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